What starts as your standard track day video soon turns nearly tragic… but not in the way you’d expect when the subject is motorsports. A Finnish driver was enjoying both his Toyota MR2 and the Ahvenisto Race Circuit in Hämeenlinna, Finland. His car appeared to be running well despite his ham-fisted one-hand-on-the-wheel approach to driving. Halfway through the video however, things take an unexpected turn.

The driver pulls into a pit area of the track, and sits in his car. Though he is parked in an outdoor space, carbon monoxide begins to filter into the cabin, and the driver begins to doze off. Attentive track officials notice the man, and probably assume he is taking a nap so they attempt to wake him up. First, by tapping on the window with their hands, then by tapping on the window with a hammer.

Their actions saved a life in a way they probably weren’t expecting that day. Click past the break for the video. Window smashing PAH! action occurs around the 5:45 mark.

Update courtesy of our Favorite Finn Antti:

“Guy smells gas at 1:22, so that’s when the gases start to get in. He hasn’t got any recollection after the spin at 3:25, in the comments he describes how he gradually starts to drive sloppier and sloppier as he’s losing consciousness and awareness. At the end, he’s barely hanging in there and can’t function anymore. You can hear him commenting in English, how he’s just scared and scared when he manages to pull off the track.

Apparently the sealing between the midship engine and the cabin was iffy, and thus the carbon monoxide started to seep in.

BTW, that’s the track where I wrecked my car. The guy is barely conscious and still he drives better than me.”

Had some high school friends who had a similar experience with a truck stuck in the mud. Left it running while trying to get out, but gasses were pooling (clouding?) under the body, leaking up inside. It was a scramble, drag-them-out-through-the-windows kind of thing.

JayP2112

The local group I instruct DEs with run windows down for safety. In case the safety crew needs to grab a driver/passenger from the car in a hurry. I've never thought about asphyxiation as an issue.

HTWHLS

Lucky guy

B72

My internal dialogue:
"There's a stop light coming up. you really should be hitting the brakes about now"
"But I'm so tired. I have a few more feet before I really need to"
"No, you should really be hitting the brakes"
"But I'm no so tired. I can go a little further, then hit them"
"Why are we having this conversation? Is that exhaust I smell? F@#$! Brakes now or you're gonna die!"
Even then the feet responded so slowly. Finally got the thing stopped, door open, windows down. It felt like the whole thing took an hour, when in reality it probably happened in a second or so as I decelerated from 50 to zero. I thought the 20 degree air would wake me up, but it took a while. Thank god I figured it out fast.

mr. mzs zsm msz esq

That's a surprising situation and one lucky guy. Look how foggy it was getting in there. Some doofus at Faribury messed with my car on Saturday. I think they were trying to break in and steal the tools I keep in the back. So Sunday my uncle and I ripped-up a bunch of grass, I needed to make a flat spot, he needs to fix some bald spots, so a fair trade. About ready to load the sod into the back of my car (my wife will not let me use her minivan, and I notice). I had to jump in and take the inside of the tail gate off a bit to remove the handle to open the tailgate. Seriously I rarely wish ill on others, but I hope who ever it was gets kicked in the nuts. Anyway, I did not want to have to climb over the grass and dirt when I got to my uncle's house to open the tailgate again, so I left the rear glass a bit cracked. This way I could reach in and work the two metal rods that lock it. From prior experience I thought this would be better than having it open all the way up, get less exhaust in through the back. Boy was I wrong, It was like a trap for the exhaust at rest and slow speeds. Anyway, I made it, just a head ache, cold brew helped, maybe it was the sun.